


all the running you can do

by spazzchicken



Category: The World's End (2013)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-13
Updated: 2013-09-13
Packaged: 2017-12-26 11:51:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/965604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spazzchicken/pseuds/spazzchicken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gary King was always running a losing race.</p>
<p>A haphazard drabble of his life before, during, and after the movie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	all the running you can do

One night.

Thats all that he had ever had.

Well, he was going to get it back.

Just one more night.

\---

He opens his eyes and he's eighteen, hung over and free. Last night was wild and he's sore in all the right ways. He stares at the ceiling and ignores the alarm.

He rubs his eyes and time races forward.

There is nothing in this place but reminders of his mistakes. A hundred haunted faces, his own in the mirror, all boring holes into his soul. Forced to speak -- to vomit his regrets and wishes, all those missed opportunities he never saw until they had passed him by.

And there is no freedom, not even the illusion. The world had been _right there_ \-- just beyond his reaching hands -- and he had somehow given it up while running full speed towards it.

"Time to get up, King. Can't sleep in today, group's at nine."

He wants to laugh or cry because that's such a fucked up thing to say. No one here has ever been allowed to sleep in.

\---

Its hard to remember the present. It disappears when he blinks his eyes -- like a waking dream that he can't escape. It just keeps rushing by, faster than he can run.

So he decides to stand still. To stop the mad dash just to stay in one place.

But he should've known better. He's never done anything right.

\---

When he finds them again, they're all so grown up. They're everything none of them ever wanted to be -- old and successful and complacent.

And his life's been fucked up for so long but he still finds this sad.

Because he remembers them how they used to be. Wild and free and high on something more than weed. How can their spirits fit in these adult suits? How can they pretend at a life not worth living.

And maybe he can't be saved. Maybe this is the end and there's nothing left when this is over.

But he's going to do one thing right: he's going to remind them of who they are.

\---

The World's End.

Everything is falling apart and he watches it disintegrate into the atmosphere. He watches, stinging eyes, until its too much. And he folds into a warmth he should have lost. A friendship broken and haphazardly mended -- nothing is fixed, but its alright for now.

Its alright because it has to be. There's nothing left but them against the world. Just like it was always supposed to be.

If he holds on for too long, he pretends its not because this is an end for more than just the world.

\---

Life moves forward.

He doesn't understand why or how, but he's not so bad at keeping up now.

Nothing is the same, but it doesn't feel so different. He's the King and he protects those he loves -- even if they're not themselves. He protects them against this world they've created together, he protects them from themselves.

And maybe him protecting them saves him. Just a little.

\---

"What was the world like before?"

"It was fucked up." He pauses, smiles. "But we made it."


End file.
